Visit from Mr Hutton again this morning, had regained more movement in upper arms and shoulders but also more feeling in his upper chest. Great news so early on. They decided it was time to reduce the amount of sedation and try and reduce the amount of support from the ventilator. Jake was pre breathing the ventilator, which meant that to some extent he could breath by himself, his diaphragm and lungs were working.
27th Feb
Had to be sedated again today, a few weeks previous Jake had caught a nasty chest infection which didn't quite clear properly, because his chest and lungs weren't working properly now he contracted pneumonia. Ventilator support still reduced though.
28th Feb
Still sedated, ventilator support upped again after having a bad night with his chest. Started a grim regime of sucking out all the various colours of lung butter through the pipe hanging out his mouth. Had started discussing a tracheotomy though which would make it more comfortable for him. They knocked him out completely by the early evening.
3rd March
One week since the accident, the plaster came off his neck today so we could all see his war wound. Didn't realise they used staples to close surgical wounds, it was very first generation punk. Had started to turn a corner with the infection and breathing started to stabilise again.
4th March
Had the trachy put in today, and discovered a serious case of fury tongue. Was pumped with various muscle relaxants so they could start reducing the sedation again, chest still improving slowly. Hit a bit of a snag when they realised his digestive system had shut down, his body was dealing with too much it had started shutting down systems to focus energy on breathing and healing the injury. Typical man cant multi task.
5th March
The outreach team came from Salisbury spinal unit today, didn't really do much other than confirm he has a spinal cord injury and that they will take him when he's fit to be moved. Have also turned a corner with the chest infection, things are starting to ease up.
29th March
Lou, ( ICU respiratory physio ) has been beasting Jake the past few weeks and weaning off the ventilator has gone so well they have decided to stop it and just do oxygen support. He's breathing completely by himself again.
2nd April
Jake had his second surgery today, a posterior fixation from C4-C6, basically plating the vertebrae together for strength and support. You could put a deposit down on a house with the cost of the metal work they put in.
7th April
Trachy got taken out today, and for the first time since the accident we have been able to hear Jake speak ( speak meaning swear like a sailor ) gnarly hole in his throat where it used to be. Amazingly gross, clever thing to be able to do to help keep someone alive. He is not ill enough to be kept in ICU for much longer which is amazing news, though we will be very sad to say bye to all the amazing nurses who have taken such good care of him. Salisbury have been notified and we await the referral.
14th April
We are in Salisbury! All very different here, them telling Jake he has to stay lying flat and not to move didn't go down very well ( Exeter's approach being you can move when you have been stabilised ) he soon told them where to go and is back to sitting up. Waiting for confirmation x-rays and notes to be sent before they can start getting him up and out of bed.
16th April
First day getting up into a wheel chair today, quite a mission it was too. Because of the muscle wastage and everything else they had to use a winch to lift him out of bed. It all went well though, and he was rewarded with Dominos.
17th April
Now Jake can get out of bed we can see the back of his head now, and what a scar they left. Jake seems quite proud of it, the third in his 'Neck Trilogy'
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